Two hungry and disabled pupils at Vukuhambe Special Needs School in Mdantsane spent hours of terror in the back of a police van after being arrested for stealing a few pieces of chicken and 10 viennas.
Mava Mlomo and Yamkela Samente wet themselves with fear as their wheelchairs rolled over them in the moving van.
In an interview with the Dispatch the two admitted they had broken into the hostel’s kitchen and stolen the food on September 24, saying they had been driven by hunger.
A number of other pupils said they sometimes go to bed without food, and some days they go without breakfast or lunch as well.
When they ask why they are not being fed, they are told there is no food.
The two teens said on the evening they decided to steal the food they had last eaten that morning, and were unable to sleep due to hunger.
Speaking to the Dispatch, wheelchair-users Mava, 18, and Yamkela, 17, said after starving the whole day they devised a plan to climb into the hostel kitchen window.
“We broke the window and recruited an 11-year-old pupil who walks on crutches. We put him through the window. He got in and he took the raw chicken and the viennas that were in the fridge and gave them to us. We helped him back out and went back to our rooms and cooked it,” said Mava, adding they shared the meal with about 10 other pupils.
The following day, they were discovered because of the chicken bones in their room.
“Teachers took the little boy and interrogated him and even beat him and he spilled the beans,” said Mava.
Mava and Yamkela said they were confronted by the deputy principal the following morning in his office.
“Police were called and after asking us a few questions they arrested us. With the help of the deputy they folded our wheel-chairs and stuffed us into the van,” said Mava.
They were taken to the NU12 police station.
“That was the scariest drive of my life. We had no balance at all – every time we got to a speed bump the wheelchairs would hit against us and we had no control. We were scared for our lives,” said Yamkela.
The pair were arrested at about 1pm in full view of their peers, some of whom were crying.
But some of the teachers cheered, the boys said.
Mava said one teacher followed close behind the van all the way to the police station.
“We stayed in the police van at the station for about two hours, until we heard a police official come outside and instruct the officers to take us back to the school saying they were not allowed to load a disabled person into a police van. While in the van we both wet ourselves,” said Mava.
The teens were eventually transported back to the school at about 3pm, still in the police van.
Mdantsane police spokesperson Captain Nkosikho Mzuku confirmed that a theft complaint had been received from the school, that their members had acted on the complaint and that a theft docket had been opened.
An internal investigation has been launched as a result of the Dispatch’s inquiry.
“The SAPS management views these allegations in a serious light, and a full investigation will be conducted. Should it be found that the officers’ conduct was inappropriate, internal processes will follow,” said Mzuku.
Mava’s grandmother Nozemhle Mhlola, who is also his legal guardian, said at no stage were they called in by the school to inform them about the incident.
“Mava only told us when he was home for the holidays in September. As a family we are deeply hurt knowing that he is disabled and now he was made to suffer again over and above that.”
Provincial education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said on Tuesday that the director of inclusive education had sent a delegation to investigate the matter and file a report with recommendations...